“Do you have Goku left? And Bulma, do you have? In geek fairs, sellers of figurines are taken by storm. A host of visitors, unconditional dragonball, Pokemon Where Harry Potter, leave these conventions with their arms full of statuettes, sometimes larger than life. These high-end figurines, “it’s a bit of a way to have your favorite characters at home, as if they were jumping from the work”, explains Thaïs, a fan of Me, when I reincarnated as Slime. “It adds a little extra to our libraries. Instead of only having manga, there are also figurines. In addition, some have details that we do not necessarily notice in the works. »
“It’s art, for me, says Enora, passionate about One Piece and My Hero Academia. It’s as if I owned a work. Latil, crazy about Fairy Tail, has “even friends who have made hotels for their figurines! he smiles. But there is no question of playing with these plastic or resin heroes. ” No, no and no ! “, warns Logan, a young man who fell for a” huge figurine of Mewtwo “, one of the Pokemon the most popular. “It’s only decoration! » Gone are the days when children carried around Power Rangers Where Ninja Turtles without really taking care of them, to make them fight at recess. Today, we exhibit them, and we pamper them.
“If I sold some of them, I would earn some money! »
“A wipe from time to time to remove the dust”, confides a collector. “A brush stroke”, prefers another. To highlight them, there are “the psychopaths of the game”, laughs a fan of Japanese anime, who shelter them, behind a completely hermetic showcase. Logan buys furniture. “Lots of furniture,” he laughs. Because figurines, I buy lots of them! “My room, for me, is incredible,” boasts Aurélien, one of these friends. I have figurines in every corner. Some come from Japan, or are limited editions. If I resold some of them, I will earn money! But I do not want to ! I keep them! »
Collecting figurines has a cost. Some are “very beautiful, and at a rather affordable price, 30 to 35 euros, continues Enora. Inevitably, if you want very, very beautiful figurines, you have to spend a little more money. “Sometimes several hundred euros, for high-end statuettes. Or more, even, for the most sought after. In recent years, however, a flourishing American company has managed to democratize these derivative products: Funko. With her “Pop”, figurines with large heads, sold for around fifteen euros, she boosted the market. November 3, Funko announced record sales of $365.6 million in the third quarter, up 36.6%.
“No convention without figurine sellers”
These funny statuettes, which are snapped up all over the world, are the stars of the stands that Oyoo deploys in trade fairs. “We started selling figurines about ten years ago, we knew it was going to work,” says Sébastien, one of the bosses ofOyoo. “When we felt it, we were selling DVDs. We have known the golden age of the DVD. Then, its decline. We added derivative products”, mainly figurines. “And it completely flipped the other way. We dropped the DVDs, we threw ourselves into figurines. »
The market for figurines that we know today began to grow in the early 2000s, notes Ismaël, from Chibi-Akihabara, one of the most popular resellers. “Around 2005, there were a few, but it was rare,” he explains. In 2011 and 2012, they began to be marketed. But since 2014, they are absolutely everywhere. There is no convention without figure sellers. “Five, six, sometimes ten on a single show, assures Ismaël. “Young people, and the not so young, watch their favorite anime, then when they walk around living rooms, they see a figurine, and they say to themselves: “Hey, why not!”, he explains. And then one, two, three… And they end up with magnificent collections! »